in this instance, the public do not seem to mind it; nor
is there any protest against the names of two other Germans on the
programme, Weber's and Beethoven's. On the contrary, the latter's
composition is frantically encored. I believe it is the symphony in _C
Minor_, for it has been wedded to Victor Hugo's words, and it is Madame
Ugalde who sings the stirring hymn "Patria."

There is a story connected with this hymn, which is not generally known.
I give it as it was told to me a day or so afterwards by Auber, who had
it from the lips of Joseph Dartigues, who, at the time of its
occurrence, was the musical critic of the _Journal des Debats_.

Hugo was very young then, and one night he went to the Theatre de
Madame, which has since become the Gymnase. The piece was one of
Scribe's--"La Chatte metamorphosee en Femme;" and Jenny Vertpre, whom
our grandfathers applauded at the St. James Theatre in the thirties, was
to play the principal part. Still, our poet was not particularly struck
with the plot, dialogue, or lyrics; but, all at once, he sat upright in
his seat, at the strains of a "Hindoo invocation." When the music
ceased, Hugo left the house, humming the notes to himself. He was very
fond of music, though he could never reconcile himself to have his
dramas appropriated by the librettists, and gave his consent but very
reluctantly. Next morning, he met Dartigues on the Boulevard des
Italiens, then the Boulevard de Gand. He told him what he had heard, and
recommended the critic to go and judge for himself. "It is so utterly
different from the idiotic stuff one generally hears." Dartigues acted
upon the recommendation. A few days later, they met once more. "Did you
go and hear that music, at the Theatre de Madame?" asked Hugo.

"Yes," was the reply. "I am not surprised at your liking it; it is
Beethoven's."

Curious to relate, Hugo had not as much as heard the name of the great
German composer. The acquaintance with classical music was very limited
in the France of those days. But Hugo never forgot the symphony, and,
later on, in his exile, he wrote the words I had just heard.

The impulse has been given, and from that moment the walls of Paris
display as many bills of theatrical and musical entertainments as if the
Germans were not at the gates. I go to nearly all, and, to my great
regret, hear a great many actors and actresses who have received favours
and honours at the hand of Louis-Napoleon vie with one anothe